Long-term exposure to air pollution associated with ADHD in children

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-05-19 01:00

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Long-term exposure to air particulate matter is associated with higher rates of positive attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) screening in children, according to a study of 164,081 Chinese children. The researchers asked parents to complete a checklist using DSM-IV criteria to screen children for ADHD, and estimated their exposure to PM1 and PM2.5 air pollution based on their address. They say those exposed to more fine particulate matter had higher odds of screening positive for ADHD. This study cannot say why the association exists, but the researchers say more work needs to be done to confirm and understand this link.

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Journal/
conference: Nature Mental Health

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Monash University, The University of Melbourne, Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), The University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology (QUT)

Funder: The research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 82073502 to R.-Q.L.); the Guangxi Key Research and Development Plan (grant no. GUIKEAB18050024 to G.-H.D.); the research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 81872582 to G.-H.D.; 81972992 to B.-Y.Y. and 81703179 to B.-Y.Y.); the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no. 2018YFE0106900 to X.-W.Z.) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant no. 19ykjc01 to G.-H.D.).

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